This week we have everything from Golden Animals to Slick Rick to Lebowski Fest. Wow! From the east side to the west side and all the way to the south side, we got you covered. So we have decided to highlight just a few shows for you this week. For every show in LA: click here
Monday: 5/4
Golden Animals, 9PM @ Silverlake Lounge, Silverlake
Juliette Commagere, 9PM @ The Echo, Echo Park
Nicole Kidman, 9PM @ Pehrsapce, Echo Park… Read the rest of this entry »
I’ve stood around at a lot of concerts and waited. Waited for the bands to get on stage, waited for the artists to sound check and sometimes (God forbid) even waited in line. Sometimes it can be fun watching your favorite artist’s set-up their show. Read the rest of this entry »
Judging from the inside of the Second Street Jazz Club you can’t really tell what’s going on. The venue plays host to tons of different musical genres which are listed in bright lights above the club’s entrance. Jazz, Pop, R&B, Rock and Hip-Hop are all welcome – yet tonight’s hip hop crowd plays an odd juxtapose to the restaurant’s bar-grill aesthetic. Read the rest of this entry »
Los Angeles weather confounds me. How did it go from 50 degrees to 90 in just four days?! The climate may be bipolar here, but I’m not complaining too much. Yesterday was a gorgeous day to spend out. I was going to see some punk bands play an early show at the Echoplex, but the weather was so nice I didn’t feel like ripping stuff up. Instead, I was lured to the Echo’s upstairs Country Music and Sunday Barbeque. Inside, I found beer, hot dogs, and Wreck N Sow playing full force. It was like a mini state fair in there! Read the rest of this entry »
To the untrained eye, the Echo looked kind of dead last night. Sure, it was still cold out and that does tend to keep people from seeing good shows. But only an expert metalhead like me knew what was about to happen. This wasn’t standard hanging-around, this was the calm before the storm. Made Out of Babies was about to perform and rip our senses to shreds.
When lead singer Julie lets out a shriek, she sounds like an evil Hindu goddess on fire. Brendan “Bunny” Tobin’s sitar-sounding guitar riffs just added fuel to fire on their insane opening song, “Cooker”. Made Out of Babies were high-pitched, fast-paced, whirlwind noise metal. And it was intense. With a name like that, how could it not be? When Christmas wasn’t making sonic scream blasts, she was doing equally disturbing noises. She’d whisper into her microphone then cackle and giggle like a little girl. Did the chick from the Exorcist grow up and start a metal band? Maybe…
Made Out of Babies were a different breed of extreme metal. It wasn’t really the stuff you could mosh to, it was too out there for that. Why bother slamming your forehead into your neighbor when you can you watch the lead singer crouch on the ground and speak in tongues? During the phenomenal “Swarm”, Christmas screamed and ran back and forth while Eric Cooper delivered skull-crunching bass lines. Drummer Matthew Egan played like he was from some Cro-Magnon hell, attacking his cymbals with intense precision and speed.
The best moments of any metal set are when the crowd goes just as nuts as the people on stage. Made Out of Babies were no different: they gave us tons of opportunities to join their live tornado. Not just from their wicked musical skills but also with an endless barrage of messed up strobe lights attacking the Echo. It really seemed like a storm in there. It was awesome.
I spent another magical night at Echo Curio! Thursday night Kit ‘n’ Tenders played Echo Curio. I was immediately smitten with them. I had a goofy, toothy grin on the whole time. Kit ‘n’ Tenders is: Ukulady and Gabby La La. But, I think their Kit ‘n’ Tenders names are: Snowflake and Buttons, though I’m not sure who is who. My night at Echo Curio started with a set from Ukulady and ended with a set from Gabby La La and in the middle was Kit ‘n’ Tenders! I couldn’t have been happier to have a night full of their music!
Kit ‘n’ Tenders features both ladies playing ukulele and singing comedic, whimsical songs featuring sea kittens and lemon zingers (that should get you excited about them in itself!). Watching them play together is like watching two four year old best friends singing about their favorite things. Their voices are sweet and child-like and the two ukuleles made it toothache sweet. When they sang they looked at one another the whole time, it is was quite adorable. Their performance at Echo Curio marked their second time performing together. Ukulady is from LA and Gabby La La is from Petaluma-that they lived miles away from eachother was an excuse Ukulady used when they messed up a lyric, haha!
It was such a relief to see these guys! I mean, I had no idea what I was in store for heading to Echo Curio on Thursday. I was not prepared for their kind because most bands take themselves soooo seriously and never show the audience how much fun they are having. Kit ‘n’ Tenders even brought cupcakes! As I glanced around the room, I noticed a sense of wonder on the faces of the crowd. It was like we were that child in elementary school learning new songs and hanging on to every lyric.
I can see these ladies making a name for themselves in both the mainstream circuit and uber underground scene. Kit ‘n’ Tenders‘ genuine excitement is contagious and I’m honored to have caught it. I cannot wait to see them or any of their incarnations in the near future. If you are lucky to have Kit ‘n’ Tenders or their solo projects, Ukulady and Gabby La La, play in your neighborhood, do not pass it up! They are super entertaining and you will thank me…seriously!
Seriously you guys, what’s up with this weather? 48 degrees in April? In Los Angeles?! It’s wrong and it makes this city seem really spooky. No one wants to go out when it’s like this, and I don’t blame them. Despite the unusually chilly air, I was roaming down Sunset last night and heading towards my favorite indie haunt: The Silverlake Lounge. I was going to see White Rhino, a sweet-natured acoustic-rock band fronted by Aaron Levy. When I got to the bar, Levy was mid-song but… wait. Where was the rest of his band?
Sporting a worn-out denim jacket and his acoustic guitar, Aaron Levy was going it solo last night. His Charleston, South Carolina-based band couldn’t join him on the trip to Los Angeles, but that didn’t stop him. He would rock his guitar and good-naturedly tell the audience things like, “this is where the violin is supposed to come in… Just imagine it!” Man that takes a lot of courage. Still, he mixed it up with White Rhino songs and some of his older solo material. He was actually giving away his old EPs to whoever wanted them, which I didn’t really get because he got along just fine without the violin, pianos, and drums that form the rest of his band.
Levy brought a folksy voice with earnest lyrics that came straight from the heart. Ever hear a song that just seems so much like the soundtrack to your life that it’s kind of creepy? Yeah, that was his music for me. He sang things like, “I want to tell you how much I miss you… but even if I did, you wouldn’t understand” and “I am just a grown up child, swinging from bar to bar.” His catchiest song of the evening was the up-tempo, “Repeat”, with a refrain that merely went, “You just repeat, repeat, repeat the past.” I am a big fan of fancy poetry and clever wordplay, but I often forget how powerful some really simple, to-the-point lyrics can be. His songs were inspired by pets dying and late-night-trips to Taco Bell. Things, I think, all of us can relate to in one way or another.
But, hands down, the most relevant song of the evening was “The Cold.” With Levy crooning about how he couldn’t stand the cold, I thought to myself, “How does he know?!?!” Nonetheless, Aaron Levy from White Rhino gave a great set. Hopefully he’ll get the whole of White Rhino to come out to the West Coast to play some gigs. It’ll be warm soon. I promise!
First, I had to get through a super long day at work. Then, there were the three opening acts. By Midnight, I was a sleep-deprived zombie staring at my cell phone and my whiskey sour. But I can’t deny it, Spindrift at Club Spaceland were worth the wait. Their amalgamation of Southwestern-rock and 60’s pop (peppered with some Cabaret-like vibes) made for a pretty sweet show.
You could say that Spindrift are southwestern Indie rock. And technically, you would be right. But that would be such a limiting way to describe the experience they deliver. Yes, when they opened with this blood-pulsing song, “New West” I was stomping my boots and ready to start herding cattle. Lead singer/guitarist Kirpatrick Thomas (great name, huh?) definitely had cowboy charisma and a walloping voice to match and guitarist Dave Koenig could work a harmonica. But then during “La Noche Mas Oscura”, organist Julie Patterson crooned dark Spanish melodies while Marcos Diableros worked an autoharp. These guys were more like Western music seen through a broken mirror; they’re more twisted and seductive than your typical “git along little doggie” stuff.
In fact, the hands down highlight of the night was “The Isle of Lost Souls”. Less country and more psychedelic, it was kind of like the Munsters Theme song on some sort of dark, mind-altering drug. Henry Evans rocked his double-guitar and Dan Allaire went wild on his drums. When the song started I was just bobbing my head, but as it ended I was totally doing the twist (and any other vaguely 60’s steps I could think of). It was great.
Spindrift have been doing a fair amount of LA area shows lately and they’ve certainly got a following. Alas, last night’s show was the last concert of their latest six-week tour. While they may have ridden off into the sunset this time, I’m hoping they’ll be back in town soon. But like I said earlier, Spindrift are definitely worth waiting for.
Just in case you were looking for something to do besides going to the Britney show this week at Staples, we thought we would give you some suggestions.
Thursday: 4/16
The Black Keys, 9PM @ The Glass House, Pomona|
Brian Wright & The Waco Tragedies, 9PM @ Hotel Café, Hollywood
Friday: 4/17
The Case Singers, 9PM @ Spaceland, Silverlake
Bitches, 9PM @ The Smell, Echo Park
It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia with Don McCloskey, 9PM @ Troubadour, Hollywood
Saturday: 4/18
Seun Kuti & Egypt 80, 8PM @ Royce Hall, Westwood
Ramblin Jack Elliot, 8PM @ McCabes, Santa Monica
Vaginals, 9PM @ L’Keg, Echo Park
Sunday: 4/19
Amy Clark, 9PM @ Trips, Santa Monica
For every show in LA: Click Here
I got to listen to these guys at Bordello the other night and they blew me away. They are on a mini tour and trying to get the word out on their new album. They are solid on Myspace but man when you see them live, the New York Riflesjust blow you away. Be on the look out for the New York Rifles. Solid band and powerful sound that will just make you feel so good all over.
